A brief analysis of the situation and pending decision problem, as presented in the case Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart store in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. He believed in the action of selling quality goods for low prices. Kmart and Target also started their operations around that time. Walton took advantage of the opportunity and established a discount retail company. Soon after opening his first store, he expanded into the south where not many other retailers would go. Walton strived to have a retail store that others would seek after for their continuing low prices. Just five years after opening the first Wal-Mart, Walton decided to expand quickly and strategically so that he could edge out his competition. In 1970s, the retail industry became extremely competitive, but in addition, the economy became weak because of inflation. Sears was the leading retailer in the nation during the 1970s, however, the recession of that time and inflation affected Sears negatively. While Sears appealed to the masses, Wal-Mart was able to keep its overhead low and continued to offer even lower prices. Wal-Mart has continued to only grow during their long tenure as a major retailer. Wal-Mart has proven to have a strong business strategy and is still the biggest retailer in the world. It has the highest gross profits of any company and the highest net profits. Wal-Mart has also topped the Fortune 500 4 times.

Identification of the major issues surrounding the organization or individuals involved
With the organization Wal-Mart has been very successful at establishing a global business in many different countries with over 1,587 stores and 500,000 by 2005. The store is also doing well in countries such as Mexico, Canada and Britain, but for countries such as Japan, Korea and even Germany Wal-Mart had to sell its stores. The first mistake the company made was to